• March 13, 2008

Honda's agency, RPA, took a recommendation its client got for its Element car from a dog lover's Web site and turned it into an ad. Now the agency is running the spot online on a variety of canine-related Web properties.

In December, DogCars.com named the Honda Element "DogCar of the Year." The agency responded with an ad, "Pointer," targeting 18- to-49-year-old males with an active, outdoor mindset.

The spots depict Element's functionality from the perspective of a dog owner.

The ads started this month on cable shows like "Dog Town" and "Science of Dogs" on the National Geographic Channel, "Purina Dog Challenge" on ESPN2 and "Rob and Big," an MTV show about a bulldog named Meaty.

This week, the agency created banner ads and online video versions of the spot on Google's 95 dog-centric Web sites, including dogbreedz.com, pamperedpuppy.com and pugvillage.com. The ads also appear on YouTube 15 seconds into dog-related videos.

--Karl Greenberg